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--- transportation:satellites [2026/03/07 22:23] – [Jamming] timb
+++ transportation:satellites [2026/03/19 00:34] (current) – [Replacement] timb
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 ====== ESA ======
+===== CryoSat =====
+== A Clever Software Patch Gave This Ice Satellite a Wild New Trick ==
+A software upgrade allowed CryoSat to monitor disturbances caused by a geomagnetic storm.
+Passant Rabie - March 17, 2026
+On January 18, the Sun released a powerful eruption of high-energy particles that reached Earth in a jiff. The eruption caused some of the most intense radiation storms on record, resulting in disturbances to Earth’s magnetic field. Meanwhile, an ice-monitoring satellite had just received a software update to its navigation system, allowing it to observe the impact of the solar storm while also keeping a steady watch on the ice sheets.
+For nearly 16 years, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) CryoSat has been measuring the thickness of polar sea ice and monitoring changes in Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. At the end of last year, ESA engineers remotely upgraded the software for one of the satellite’s instruments. The new software allowed CryoSat to measure changes in Earth’s magnetosphere, just in time to observe the aftermath of an intense geomagnetic storm.
+CryoSat’s measurements of Earth’s magnetic field are detailed in a study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
+https://gizmodo.com/a-clever-software-patch-gave-this-ice-satellite-a-wild-new-trick-2000734135
 ===== DRACO =====
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 https://gizmodo.com/nasa-told-to-overhaul-its-plans-to-replace-the-international-space-station-2000639959
+== The ISS May Live for a Little Bit Longer for a Totally Predictable Reason ==
+Congress instructed NASA to not begin deorbiting the ISS until at least one commercial successor is in space.
+Passant Rabie - March 9, 2026
+The end may not be so near for the International Space Station (ISS), at least not until a privately owned alternative has filled its orbital shoes.
+The U.S. Senate advanced a revised version of a NASA authorization bill, which would delay the retirement of the ISS from 2030 to 2032. The goal of the two-year extension is to “avoid a gap in continuous human presence and capabilities in [low-Earth orbit], thus avoiding ceding leadership to China before commercial stations are ready,” the NASA Authorization Act reads.
+Congress added a sense of urgency toward NASA’s plans of maintaining a human presence in Earth orbit by transitioning to the use of commercial space stations. Despite the ISS retirement scheduled in a few years’ time, the space agency has yet to kick off the final round of a competition among industry leaders to develop their own orbital lab. With no clear alternative in sight, U.S. lawmakers are concerned about whether private companies will be prepared to replace the ISS by 2030.
+https://gizmodo.com/the-iss-may-live-for-a-little-bit-longer-for-a-totally-predictable-reason-2000731283
+== 5 Companies Competing to Replace the International Space Station ==
+Each of these aerospace firms has a unique vision for the future of humanity's presence in low-Earth orbit.
+Ellyn Lapointe - March 18, 2026
+NASA and its international partners plan to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of 2030, sending it to a fiery death as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere. But that doesn’t mean humanity will be giving up its sustained presence in low-Earth orbit.
+The demise of the ISS will usher in a new era of commercial space stations. Several companies are already developing orbital research facilities and modular habitats that will allow astronauts to continue living and working in space. Many believe their stations will offer increased flexibility, affordability, and new opportunities for both scientific discovery and space-based industry.
+Here are five key companies stepping up to fill the gap the ISS will leave behind.
+https://gizmodo.com/5-companies-competing-to-replace-the-international-space-station-2000734746